


rumour has it!

by beepboopwriting



Series: 2Dace extravaganza!! [4]
Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Ace is just an actor in this one, Established Relationship, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Gossip, M/M, One Shot, Phase Five (Gorillaz), it's really silly flirting hshs...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-10 22:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15301767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beepboopwriting/pseuds/beepboopwriting
Summary: Ace thieves a tabloid and brings it home to laugh, ridicule, and then destroy it. Thankfully, he has someone else to assist him with such slander.





	rumour has it!

Wherever the Gorillaz went, garbage followed. Any kind of garbage one could think of was likely to trail behind those four, and at every opportunity, may it be criticism, overzealous fans, or a literal trail of cigarette butts and gum wrappers. It was the ringmaster of this crew, Murdoc Niccals, that practically held the neon sign of “Garbage Crossing Here”— takes one to know one, as all his bandmates would say— but the bassist king of the spoiled crop was now in prison for drug smuggling. It was like a breath of fresh air, and especially for the crew’s new leader and always frontman. Without the looming threats of violence and the occasional retail therapy of thrift store goodies, 2D could breathe again and focus on what mattered to him most: the music, and the ever longing romantic tension between him and the replacement bassist, Ace.

However, some garbage prevailed over the others and still infested the public’s opinions of Gorillaz: the gossip magazines. It was the mantra of the band to ignore sensationalist headlines on those cheap papers. _Waste of time and of space discussing who is with who or who’s in jail when we can focus on the real troubles of the world_ , Russel would always say, with cheers of agreement from the band. To engage positively with the rumor mill would do nothing but damage the band’s image, so it was decided many years ago that Gorillaz would ignore whatever pitiful stories the media would decide to publish. It was law for them— except for Ace, who wasn’t around during those agreements and could not give a less of a damn. Growing up as an actor in his youth practically made him impenetrable from the blow tabloids would have on an up and coming star or someone seemingly so unproblematic that it hurt. He learned by age thirteen that the gossip was fake, don’t do anything to provoke anything, and most ingrained: _don’t get into relationships._ Ace, of course and as mentioned before, did not give a damn. He always followed his dreams, doing whatever he fancied and dating whomever he’d like. He balanced his own personal relationships with the occasional thieving of these trashy magazines. Ace thought of it as a balance of reality and fiction-- tabloids were basically modern day tall tales anyway.

Today felt like a good day to pick up an unhealthy family size bag of chips from the local gas station to Ace, and on his way out of the cramped building did he look over to the magazine rack. There were headlines of all sorts, but there was one in particular that caused Ace to lower his sunglasses with a look of intrigue: **_2D and the Now Now Lover?_ ** Looking closer at the image blown up on the cover, Ace could make out the blurry figures of two people in a seemingly passionate embrace. The taller of the two had a small patch of blue on his head, so more than likely this was the 2D of the equation. The person in his embrace looked sort of sickly, his head lifted upwards to place a kiss on the singer’s forehead. Inspecting the image closer led Ace to see who this “lover” was, and he cursed to himself. His glasses were a dead giveaway, weren’t they?

“Aw, damn. Caught in the act.” Ace laughed, his eyes panning around the store before he nabbed the magazine and stuffed it inside his jacket. He then carefully waltzed out the double doors. Ace waited for an opportunity to get away from bystanders before he took the magazine out of his jacket. He studied the image again, noticing the background was possibly of Venice Beach. This hinted at a relationship since the Humility shoot, something Ace could neither confirm nor deny to the nosy paparazzi (which was an utter lie, Ace and 2D were very much an item), but for once Ace felt it was an exception to the “not giving a damn” rule. 2D preferred to be a lot more secretive with his private life nowadays, and Ace didn’t want him to be worried or overwhelmed with questions about his relationship if this were to become more mainstream. In fact, Ace worried immensely about what this could do to 2D, and if it would be too much for him to deal with. Walking on beaten paths and clutching the plastic bag with his purchase and the stolen magazine inside, Ace sighed and rethought his decision to grab it in the first place. Sure, he wanted a laugh today and learning what sort of antics the media assumed T. Swift was up to would elicit that from him, but now he worried about the candid on the front cover. 2D’s comfort level was a lot more important than some jokes about a sold old pop princess. Perhaps when he got home, he could grab his switchblade and stab through the cover and dispose of it before anyone saw it. His mind was wrought with ideas on how to justify why exactly he held this tabloid, but his mind came to a halt as soon as his footsteps did. Ace had almost tripped up the stairs to the band’s current home, and he coughed aloud to excuse his own stupidity. He then fumbled around in his pockets for a key, only to realize he had not brought it. Angered with mostly himself, he knocked on the door in the hopes that someone would answer it. As luck would have it, Ace only waited a leisurely five or so minutes before the door opened.

“Russ! Thanks! It was starting to get pretty chilly out there.” Ace laughed as he waited for Russel to move out of the doorway before he stepped in.

“I was wondering when you’d get back. You just go to convenience stores to window shop? It shouldn’t take someone twenty minutes to get a bag of chips and come back.”

“Ey, well, you know me, Russ! It’s just how I roll.”

“You roll extremely slowly then. 2D’s upstairs if that’s what you want. He just woke up from a nap, I think, so be gentle with him. No yelling or whatever.” Russel instructed with a small smirk, and Ace smirked back.

“No worries, man. You know I don’t wanna scratch up my voice.” the bassist joked back, his hand twirling the plastic bag around his slender finger as he made his way down the halls to 2D’s room. Knocking politely, Ace opened the door to find the skinny man still laying on his bed. His hair was a mess, his shirt tangled up and exposing his stomach, and the blankets once covering him were pushed off of him. _Gorgeous as ever, that man_ , Ace thought.

“Babe! You’re awake. Good. I’d hoped you’d be by now.” Ace said, dropping the bag onto the dresser near the door. He hopped onto the bed beside 2D and grabbed his hand.

“Oh, yeah. I only woke up a bit ago, though. Still really kinda sluggish...though when am I not?” 2D joked as he laid over on his side to look Ace in the eyes.

“Being sluggish isn’t a bad thing. You’re fine. Say, mind if I go change really quick? Jeans SUCK when you’re trying to relax.” Ace asked as he propped himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ll be right back.”

“Not a problem. Get all cozy before comin’ back. Promise I won’t snoop through your bag or anything.” 2D assured as he grabbed around Ace’s torso in affection before he let go to allow Ace to leave. “I’m not a nosy Nancy, nor a nosy Susan in that case. Not a nosy Vivian either.”

“You’re anything but, I know.” Ace replied as he stood up and walked out of the room and went to his own. He located his comfort clothes, changed into them and looked in front of his mirror. He really _did_ have an awful hairline. Ace studied himself closely with fingers combing through his greasy hair and his eyes scanning his combination of an old tank top and old plaid boxers he’d had for years. If only the tabloids had caught him in this garb, he thought with a chuckle. They’d have the time of their lives making fun of the look. It was when Ace ruffled his hair and turned to exit his room that he remembered he had picked up one of the very gossip magazines he was joking about earlier. He continued his walk towards 2D’s room though, trying not to let on that he was worried about 2D seeing the cover. Ace wasn’t necessarily concerned about 2D seeing the picture of them in that embrace, for of course they had replicated it many times before and would continue to do so at any non-inconvenient moment. It was more the feeling 2D would get knowing that the media knew about their romantic involvement. What if he gets paranoid, upset that the one good relationship he’d had was going to be overanalyzed by the media? What if the fake journalists put too much focus on their relationship through the public eye, eventually breaking it up before it could reach its full potential? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Ace’s philosophy of kicking the garbage to the curb and not caring at all seemed like it was not as strong as it could be, but this wasn’t just about him. It was about 2D and him, and the feelings of another person mixed with his own caused a surge of protectiveness within him. If anyone needed someone to shield and care for them, it was 2D for sure. Ace walked at a pace that changed rapidly before he made it back to 2D’s door. He opened it again, and his ears immediately perked up at the sound of laughter. It rang from 2D, bits of chips flying from his mouth as he looked directly at the cover of the magazine with the chip bag already opened and spilling onto the bed. Ace noticed this, and he could not deny that he felt his stomach drop a little. This feeling of protectiveness that had ignited in him since seeing that candid shot, and Ace cleared his throat before explaining himself.

“Oh, yikes. Yeah, haha, I kinda, uh...took that.” the bassist stuttered as he walked back to the bed and plopped back down on it. “See, it has us on the cover. Kinda got worried, is all, that you may not want our relationship to be a big thing in the media yet, so I brought it home to destroy it-”

“Six fingers, Ace.” 2D managed to choke out, his hands trembling with his laughter. His narrow finger pointed to the picture of the two, and after looking at it again did 2D laugh even harder.

“Huh?” Ace said with a raised eyebrow, lifting his feet onto the bed and leaning over on 2D’s shoulder. “What?”

“Ace, look! Look at your hand. On my back right there. Can’t miss it.”

“Oook...what about it?”

“Look at it. Closely. Do some countin’.”

“As you say.” Ace shrugged, his face leaning towards the cover of the magazine. He looked again at the figures in their close embrace. 2D’s eyes were closed in what seemed like a pure bliss, and Ace’s sunglasses covered up what lovey dovey eyes he could’ve been sporting. The beach behind them looked real, and there were no traces of green screen around them. So far, so good. However, 2D had mentioned the hand on his back. Rubbing his eyes and squinting for a better look, Ace did as told and counted. “One, two, three, four, fiv-oh my god.” His calm voice escalated in what could only be described as a wheeze. “Oh my god! Six! Dee, they gave me SIX fingers! Oh my _god_ , how bad did they doctor this?”

“Beats me, my now now lover! I could’ve sworn it was legit until I saw that.” 2D joked back. “Of all the times we’ve found ourselves being all romantic in public, and they ignore those, doctor a photo,  and accidentally give you an extra thumb!”

“You think it’ll get people to dismiss us?” Ace laughed in return, his eyes almost filled with tears as he looked back at his right hand (with five fingers, many thanks for asking) and then to his clearly mutant six-finger hand around 2D’s waist.

“I can’t say I’m too surprised though. It’s this magazine that always comes after us. A while back, some rumor spread that Noodle was hiding some marijuana farm back in Japan.” 2D mentioned.

“Was it true?” Ace asked, laughing as he finally got a handful of the chips he bought what seemed like ages ago.

“‘Course not! Noodle wouldn’t go near drugs like that. Plus, she told me she’d be more into tobacco plants. More money that way.”

“Yeah, she’s got a point.”

“Also, there was this one article about how I got this hair, you know? Said it wasn’t dye or anything like that, but that I _fell out of a tree!_ Tabloids, am I right?”

“Stu, babe.” Ace interrupted. “That actually happened though.” A moment of silence passed.

“Oh, yeah! That’s right, it was. Hurt pretty bad, actually. Still got scars. Point is, Ace, you don’t have to be too worried ‘bout the public knowin’ about us. I think they’d be more focused on that attractive second thumb of yours.” 2D joked as he took the tabloid in his hands and threw it off to the side of the bed.

“Attractive? Babe, it’s a second thumb. _Reeeeal_ attractive, yeah. So hot.”

“You can say that again.”

“...so hot.” Ace repeated for the joke, and he found himself with his hand in 2D’s. His free hand ruffled at his boyfriend’s hair. 2D couldn’t ignore such a gesture, and he returned the affection with a scoot closer to Ace. Their faces were only inches apart, and the moment for a kiss would’ve been perfect if it were not for their eyes staring into each other. Eye contact mixed with the absurdity of the six fingers was too much for the both of them, and they dissolved into giggles for another few minutes.

“These guys are supposed to be professionals!” 2D mentioned in between his lapses to catch his breath. Ace studied how the white eyes laughed in their own away alongside the person who owned them, and he was overcome with a feeling of joy. He then closed the gap between them by lifting his head up to kiss 2D’s forehead in a more realistic rendition of the tabloid’s photo.

“Ol’ Six Fingers got the moves, huh?” Ace asked. “Feeling romanced yet? The media yearns for us, babe! 2D and his Now Now Lover, the _one_ , the _only_ Ace Cop-”

“Oi, shut it so I can kiss you, you absolute idiot.” 2D laughed as he reached his hands out to cup Ace’s face. He squeezed at his cheeks before he leaned in to kiss, his legs wrapping around Ace’s in an attempt to bring them closer. Ace accepted the kiss easily, and his arms wrapped around 2D’s torso. After letting go, Ace smirked and kissed at 2D’s forehead again. The singer smiled warmly, unable to keep himself from going back every once in a while to kiss Ace again.

“I’m kinda tired of this romance stuff now.” Ace laughed as he hugged 2D’s chest. “Wanna pick up that bad boy again and see what kinda antics they’ve got T Swift up to now?”

“Absolutely, Ol’ Six Fingers.”

“Watch it!” Ace laughed before there was another kiss shared.

“Better?” 2D asked.

“...better. Now, c’mon. We’ve got garbage to read!”

**Author's Note:**

> #SixFingerAce
> 
> oof! another 2Dace done! they smooch and they make fun of stupid tabloids. never believe the rumors, dear readers.
> 
> as always, thanks for reading!! feel free to leave kudos, bookmarks and comments <3


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